Gone
by 0YinANDYang0
Summary: As the title permits,it's about someone who left the flock. Fang. And Max is left with his last words to cope with. Everyone expects her to take care of the flock no matter what happens,so will she sink further into her depression,or will she toughen up?
1. Chapter 1

**Note: **Okay, to anyone who's reading this, you're TOTALLY AMAZING!!! Because I just started this account and I'm glad you care enough to read some stupid newbie's first fan fic. So PLEASE read and review, and let me know what I can do better. Oh, and FYI, I'm going to be writing a Chapter Two, so any advice will be helpful!!! :)

**Chapter One**

The wind blew around me, enveloping me in sleet and snow. My hair whipped around my face, hitting me, stinging my exposed face.

_You're not for me._

My fingers were beyond cold with the snow and ice falling from the sky. But I couldn't care less about that right now.

_I'm sorry._

I was sitting on my knees, with a hole in my chest where my heart should have been. But it wasn't like it was gone. It was like it had been pulled out with a hideous scar in my skin where it should have been beating and keeping me warm.

_It just won't work, okay?_

I couldn't believe it. After everything we'd been through, he had left me. Gone away. For nothing more than freedom. Hadn't I done a good job? Hadn't I been a good leader? Did I do something wrong? A new gust of wind sent my hair spinning around again. It made my teeth chatter more, made me shiver more. But I didn't care. Couldn't care. Because my heart was gone.

_I didn't want to tell you this._

I hadn't done anything. Couldn't do anything. He'd left me, and he'd left the others. Just to be by himself. Just to be selfish. Just to hurt me.

_Maybe fire and ice can coexist, okay? But I'm not fire, and you're not ice._

A gentle tap on my shoulder made me wince. Warmth pierced my skin. I wanted to be alone. Wanted to freeze to death and die slowly, and hope that the same happened to him. I hoped he wouldn't come back for years. And when he did, I would be dead and gone, and he would realize what he had done. And he'd regret it, and have to live with it for the rest of his life.

_I have to go._

"Max?" Nudge's soft voice lifted me out of my depression slightly, and I turned to look at her, tears still running down my cheeks, still enveloping me in sadness, still freezing after they left me eyes.

_Take care of them, okay?_

"Max, are you okay?" A stupid question. How could I be okay? How could I _possibly_ be okay? My heart was gone. My life was gone. I was dying, slowly being cut into thousands of irreplaceable pieces. And he was living it up somewhere warm.

_Remember me._

"Max, it's cold out. Come inside," Nudge instructed. I couldn't think, couldn't act. She pulled me to my feet, and I followed her inside numbly. The heating blasted me harder than the cold air had, and suddenly my skin was on fire, feeling heat again.

_Never forget what I've done. Bye, Max._

Fang. The only person who I could confront with my fears, could tell him what was wrong, could say "I don't know what to do." And he was gone. He'd left on his own accord. And my mind couldn't even begin to comprehend it.

"Max?" Nudge's voice came through to me, and I looked at her through my sopping, unkempt hair.

That had been a week ago.

And since then, I hadn't slept, hadn't eaten, hadn't done anything but mourn. But my flock needed me, and I knew I couldn't leave them yet.

I looked up at my flock, their worried faces peering at me, concern etched into everyone's faces, even Iggy's. I had let them down. I had shown them that I wasn't as tough as they expected me to be, wasn't as unimaginably strong as they needed me to be. And I would show them that I was.

I took a deep breath and prepared to begin the impossible.

**Note: **Again, and if you didn't read the note at the beginning, you need to know this: please REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW!!! If you don't, I won't be able to write a second chapter, and I know how annoying that is. I HATE one-chapter stories. And, again, thank you for reading this! I don't expect anyone to, anyway. :):):)


	2. Chapter 2

I felt their gazes on my back as I proceeded to make pancakes. I know what you're thinking: _MAX is making PANCAKES? _Or, better yet: _Max is in the KITCHEN?!_ Iggy was actually there with me, and he was murmuring something about not stirring the batter too much or it would get stiff. Aren't pancakes supposed to be stiff?

"Max?" Gazzy said. I turned to look at him, a fake smile plastered on my face. "You're muttering again. It's kind of freaking me out."

The flock nodded. I sighed and turned back to Iggy, who was now flicking water onto the pan. It sizzled and hopped off in less than a second, and he then took a spoon and was pouring pancake batter in circles onto the heated pan. I rolled my eyes. As if I could ever cook. If anything, this was making the flock think I had even more problems than I would if I had just stayed depressed.

I dreaded what was to come in about five minutes.

After Iggy finished the pancakes, I set them on the table. Five pairs of worried eyes peered up at me. We all sat. I took a deep breath.

"Okay, guys," I said, sounding all leaderly. "Here's the thing. F—" I couldn't quite get his name past my lips. "Um…Nick," I said lamely, "is gone. And he told me I had to cope with it. And I've been taking care of you for years, right? So, it shouldn't be too hard. Now I've been thinking about a few possible locations to go to next…"

"You mean we're not staying?" Gazzy interrupted. "I like it here! There're, like, snow days all year round!"

"We're not in school, Gazzy," I told him firmly. It surprised me that I could say "school" without tripping up, but I couldn't say _his _name. "We're on the run. We can't stay here or something bad will happen. It always will."

_Nothing bad's going to happen, Max. _Angel. _Don't ask me how I know. I don't. I just… have this feeling. We don't have to run away this time._

Too many memories. Too many horrible thoughts crowding up my head. I remembered the time Fang had kissed me in my room, the time I had cried myself to sleep as he'd held me in his arms, murmuring reassuring thoughts at me. I remembered when he had made me laugh after I'd jammed three of my fingers trying to wrangle the kids into bed.

_No, _I thought at her, and closed down my thoughts. She looked at me pityingly, which was more than me and the flock could handle.

Gazzy was the first one to go.

"I, um…" he stammered. "Have to go, uh, do…something. Make my bed. Angel didn't."

He got up and left the table.

"I have to fold laundry," Nudge excused herself saying. I knew nobody here ever did laundry, but I let her go anyway. Everyone proceeded to say they had to do something, leaving their pancakes untouched. Iggy muttered, "Sorry," and left. I was alone, and I sank to the floor, crying.

Tears ran down my cheeks and sobs racked my chest as I focused on breathing in and out so I wouldn't spontaneously combust, if I wasn't already. That's what it felt like. My sides heaving, a single hysterical laugh made its way out of my throat and through my lips. And then I knew I'd gone insane. After losing the only thing that was keeping me together, keeping me sane for fifteen long years of treachery and madness, I had finally lost it. And I knew I could not keep the flock together anymore.

I fell asleep there, on the cold kitchen floor.

"Max?" Iggy asked me worriedly. I got up and rubbed my head, memories I didn't need, didn't want, rushing back into my head. "Max, are you okay?"

"What do you think?" I snapped, my voice thick, ruining it. I couldn't be sarcastic with a gaping black hole in my chest, pulling all emotions into it and not letting anything except hatred, denial, and hopelessness out.

Iggy stepped back, away from the couch I was resting on. Surprisingly, nobody was here except for me and Iggy. He looked confused and sad, but not for me. For himself. Which was exactly what I was doing. I was confused and sad. And enraged.

For myself.

I fell back onto the couch, hitting my head on the wood beneath the fabric. I cried out, and Iggy stumbled forward, sitting on the couch with exact precision. I sat up and curled into a little ball, leaning on him, tears flooding my face all over again. Which made me wonder.

Would F—…he…had left if he had known this would happen to me? Would he have gone away, never to be seen again by anyone? Would he have told me we couldn't be together anymore if he knew I needed him this much? If he knew he was the only thing keeping me from total breakdown?

Iggy stroked my head and massaged where my wings attached to my back. It felt good, but it brought back memories when Fang had done the same. I nestled deeper into Iggy's hard shoulder and sobbed, shaking until I finally dropped off to sleep out of pure exhaustion.


	3. Chapter 3

**Note: **Wow. That's all I can say. Thanks SOOO much for everyone who commented! I swear, I SO did not expect that many comments. Keep the advice coming!!! (Oh, and if I mess up, tell me, and I'll fix it. Whether grammatical or, like, story-wise.)

**Chapter 3**

I woke in a hotel room. My eyes stung because they were so dry, and my throat was parched. I held my hand to my neck, as if I could hydrate myself that way. I kind of freaked for a second, because the blinds were drawn and the door was closed, and I couldn't see for a minute before my eyes adjusted.

I held back tears as I remembered what had happened. And Iggy had comforted me. _Iggy! _A blind kid. And he had held me and let me cry myself to sleep. I shivered, uncomfortable and embarrassed. I hoped I wouldn't run into him.

I got up and, still in my clothes, made myself walk through the door to the hallway and into the kitchen, where I had been the night before, having a mental breakdown.

The flock looked at me with worried expressions. I blocked Angel, though I could feel her pushing to get into my head. She looked at me angrily. I knew she couldn't even begin to comprehend all of the stuff in my head, and I almost wanted to protect her from it, if that makes sense.

"Hey, guys," I said in a normal tone, a fake smile on my face. I automatically did a scan of the flock. Five, including Total. I turned my head away from the empty chair where Fang would have been sitting. Taking a deep breath, I prepared to tell the flock my decision.

But Gazzy beat me to the punch.

"Are we staying?" he asked. Nudge gave me Bambi eyes, but frankly, that wouldn't affect me now that _he _was gone.

I sighed. "Yeah, why not?"

The kids all cheered, but Iggy, standing at the stove making eggs, stared at me solemnly. I turned away from him and towards the celebrating bird kids. I tried to join in on their enthusiasm, but I found that I couldn't.

I felt a tear slide down my cheek, and I didn't know why. Maybe because I was feeling guilty. Maybe because I was feeling betrayed. Maybe I was happy beyond words.

Maybe it was because I knew I had made a mistake.

**Note: **Okay, I know, it's short. Comment, people!!! What do you think should happen, because I'm at a writer's block. Any ideas, fans?


	4. Chapter 4

**Note: **Thanks for the comments, everyone! No advice, really, but I was inspired by a raccoon that chased me half way across my backyard!!! (Don't ask, it's really a long story.) No, there are NO RACCOONS in this story! At least, not yet… ;P Lol, enjoy!

**Chapter Four (?)**

Finally. Alone. After all of that time. Answering questions. Being interrogated. Being tortured for no good reason except to bug me. I had been about to rip out my brain by the time they told me I was finished.

But maybe I'm exaggerating.

I had let the kids play tag while I sat on the couch, watching NBC. I mean, we were so misinformed that World War III could have broken out in the past year and we wouldn't even have known about it.

Iggy sat down next to me. So much for alone.

"NBC? The news? Since when did you watch that?" he asked me. I shrugged, then realized he couldn't see it. I felt a small amount of tears remembering _him _and how he had always been telling me to be more informed, to settle down, to read a freaking newspaper once in a while.

"Since now," I replied, my voice cracking. I brushed away a loose tear and rubbed my hands on my grimy jeans, embarrassed. I clear my throat and got up. "Let's make lunch. I think Nudge is coming over to complain."

Iggy looked uncertain, but got up off the couch and walked into the kitchen with one hundred percent accuracy. I followed, just as Nudge walked up to me.

"Hey, Max," she said, taking a deep breath. I braced myself. "Are we eating soon? Are we having lunch? I think we are, 'cause Iggy is in the kitchen, you know? So that means we're eating soon. 'Cause he'll make it, and then we'll eat it. What are we having? Lunch is a funny word. Like brunch. Which word came first? Was brunch created after lunch and breakfast, or did they get tired of eating one meal and just decided one day to call it breakfast and lunch? How'd they get their names, Max? Was there a guy called lunch or brunch? Or a girl? I guess it could be a girl. It'd be sexist to assume it was a guy. Like, all the awesome inventors are guys, though. Like the Wright brother and Thomas Edison and Albert Einstein…only he wasn't an inventor, was he? E=mc² and all that?"

She paused to take another deep breath and I pushed her out of the kitchen with a small smile on my face. "Go get the others," I told her. "And go sit down."

She looked disappointed, but did was I said. I walked back over to Iggy. He was spraying a pan with Pam no-stick cooking spray. Extra strength. I rolled my eyes at that.

"You know how to get stuff done," he remarked. I pushed him playfully. "Bread, please."

I handed him a loaf of bread. "Butter." I got out some butter from the fridge. Thank God for pre-stocked refrigerators, you know? Even if you have to break into them. "Cheese." I found some mozzarella, which I hoped would work like cheddar. Iggy felt the cheese and looked at me. Well, turned his head in my direction. "This is mozzarella."

"It's not the same?" I asked him. He shook his head.

"Too dense. Won't melt as fast."

"Like you're the cooking expert now?"

"At least I _can _cook." That remark really hurt for some reason. Like, _he _had always told me that I couldn't cook diddly, and I knew that. But I didn't want to remember what _he _had always said. I didn't care. Well, I did. But that was why I didn't want to remember.

"Then you can do it by yourself!" I snapped, and stepped out of the kitchen, which was beginning to feel crowded. And, as I hope you know, I'm not very pleasant when I'm claustrophobic.

Nudge had rounded up the rest of the flock, and apparently they thought it okay to sit on the couch in front of the TV and eat. I sighed but curled up on the couch anyway. They were watching Dr. Phil, because they couldn't find the remote and it just happened to be on.

There was a woman on screen crying. "And he just left me. Left me! He told me it wouldn't work and I tried to tell him not to leave, but I couldn't get the words out of me! And he told me to take care of the kids, but we've got five. I don't know how I'll manage…!"

I shut off the TV by pulling out the plug.

"Bed," I ordered in a monotone.

"But it's not even—" Gazzy started to complain.

"Go," I ordered coldly, not feeling. The kids all looked at one another. But, realizing I was serious, they marched to their shared room. Gazzy looked back at me one more time.

"Can't we eat dinner?" he wondered quietly out loud. One cold glare from me was all he needed to run from the room and bump into the others, who were filtering slowly down the hallway and into their open room.

Iggy walked into the room as the last of them disappeared. He walked over to me as the tears began to brim over, and he leaned me against his shoulder and sat on the couch, which only made me cry harder.

**Note: **In case you didn't know, _he _is actually referring to Fang. It's kind of painful to say his name for Max, so I just slipped that in there. I know, I don't know how I get my inspirations. Just comment, guys! I don't want to be chased for another idea, okay? R and R.   


	5. Chapter 5

**Note: **OMG, thanks to EVERYONE who commented on this story, because I got some pretty good ideas, a couple of which I actually thought of myself. Great minds think alike, I guess!!! ;P Anywho, enjoy the story!

**Chapter Five**

Okay, the emotional part is over. I know, cry, cry, wah, wah, whatever. I'm not normally all sobby and emotional like that. I'm having a bad month, okay?

I pushed away from Iggy and brushed away the remaining tears. Another ragged sob worked its way out of my lungs, but I ran out of the kitchen and out the door. I took a few steps and jumped up into the air, unfurling my wings. I hadn't flown in so long, since _he _had left, that I kind of had to work at it. But after fumbling and nearly dropping twenty feet to my death, I took off.

I eventually found this old, rundown motel that nobody was using anymore, and I hunkered down there for the night. I fell asleep in a bug-infested bed, which was little more than a mattress with a giant hole barfing out stuffing. I didn't wake up until about noon the next day.

It wasn't surprising that I freaked out when I awoke. I usually do. Especially since nobody was with me, and I was used to sleeping in caves and on cement ledges or floors. So finding myself alone on a semi-comfy mattress in an abandoned motel room kind of set me over the edge.

I worried about the flock for a solid hour as I fished some IHop (?) pancakes out of the dumpster behind the restaurant. I figured the rest of the flock was hungry, too, so I pulled those weird drawstring things they have at the bottom of hoodies really tight. Then I stuff the food into the hoodie, so much I could barely fly.

I got back to where I had been the night before and found all of the lights on and everyone up, looking for me. I swore under my breath, and Angel looked up, said something, and pointed. The flock all waved at me, and I smiled, actually feeling happy. I don't know why. Maybe it was the restful sleep.

"Max!" Nudge cried. She ran over as soon as I had landed and gave me a huge hug. "You're back! Where were you all this time? Did you leave? Gazzy said you were never coming back. He scared us. But he lied. 'Cause you're here. And Iggy said you were dead, but you're not dead because you're here so you must be alive. And Angel told us—"

"That's great, Nudge," I interrupted. "But I have something special for everyone." I pulled the breakfast stuff—eggs, bacon, sausages, pancakes—out of my hoodie and Nudge squealed. Gazzy and Angel cheered. Iggy stood sullenly out of the way.

We all sat down around the tiny table in the kitchen, which was on the verge of being crushed by five bird kids and a talking, flying dog.

When everyone was settled, I almost chickened out. The last time I had tried saying this, it hadn't gone so well. In fact, it had been bombed with a nuclear warhead.

"Okay, guys," I ordered. Everyone was pigging out on their food. "Here's the thing. We have to go. We haven't been getting the proper exercise here. I mean, you guys haven't flown or stretched your wings once! And we're out of food. And the construction workers are starting to come. They're working on the floor below us right now. Pretty soon they're going to have to finish the gaping hole in the hallway, and finish furnishing the room attached to ours. And we can't risk getting caught."

There was complete silence.

"So," I continued, ignoring the loudness of the quietness, "we're going to pack up all our stuff. And we're moving out. Tonight. I'm hoping before ten tonight."

"But we just got here!" Gazzy complained.

"It's comfortable!" Nudge whined. "Not like living in the streets or in subway tunnels. And I like having food, not fishing for it in dumpsters."

"And what about Total?" Angel demanded. "He can't fly very well yet! How will we get him to move with us? We're taking him, right?"

"I second that emotion," Total moaned. He flopped over on the floor, his belly full of yummy food. Yummy human food.

"We did _not _just get here!" I snapped back. "I know it's comfortable, but we'll find somewhere else. And, FYI, this _meal _was provided by the dumpsters! As for Total, we'll carry him the old-fashioned way if he gets tired. We managed before, and we can manage now!"

"But," Gazzy said so quietly I could barely hear him, "Fang was here before, to help carry him. He's not anymore."

More silence followed. The tension was in the air. Nobody had mentioned his name since his disappearance. Nobody even knew when or how he'd left. Except me. And I'd been too cowardly to stop him.

I cleared my throat, locking all of my emotions and feelings into an airtight box.

"It's done," I told them. "We're leaving. Now get the stuff you absolutely need to keep, and we're out of here."

**Note: **Thanks again for all the comments, people! Keep 'em coming! Do you want Fang to come back? When? How? Why? What will happen? Don't let me down, wonderful fans!!!! ;P


	6. Chapter 6

**Note: **Whew. Thanks to everyone who commented with different ideas. I don't know which one to pick! They're all so amazingly awesome! Again, thanks, and I'll try to include as many of them as I can in upcoming chapters.

**Chapter Six**

We ended up skipping the motel thing. I found a cave in a cliff behind a bunch of roots sticking out of the rock face. It was mostly hidden, and there were like three chambers coming off of one big one. We decided to use one of them as storage, and we dumped our few belongings and some nonperishable food items there. The little kids slept in one of the other chambers, and Iggy and I slept in the bigger one. The main area had a rougher floor than the rest, so nobody wanted to sleep there.

We crashed almost as soon as we finished throwing our stuff on the ground. I let the kids have some cold Chef Boyardee, and then it was beddy-bye time. I conked out as soon as my head hit the floor.

_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

I woke up with my hands duct-taped behind my back and my legs duct-taped together. Around my head was a strip of electrical tape, and it went over my mouth and hair, so I couldn't turn my head without my long hair being ripped out. I kind of moved my torso so I could see what was going on. Iggy was tied up much the same as I was, and the rest of the flock were already unconscious with rags, probably soaked in some tranquilizer, over their faces.

I tried to scream, but nothing came out. I hadn't been this helpless, this useless, in a long time. Iggy turned his head, and his eyes told me he wanted to scream out loud, too.

An Eraser (haven't seen them in a while, huh?) kicked me in the ribs, which made a cracking sound. I cried out, but it was muffled by the tape over my mouth. Black spots filled my vision, and a wet cloth was placed over my head. It smelled sickly sweet, like too much sugar in water and it only clumps and smells horrible. If you don't know what I'm talking about, try it.

And then everything went black.

**Note: **Okay, I know it's short. But don't worry! The next chapter will be REALLY long and also totally awesome!!! So don't tell me this was too short, because chapter seven will make up for it. :P


	7. Chapter 7

**Note: **I'm not even going to wait for you guys to comment on that last post. I just need to continue or my head is going to explode with ideas. So thanks in advance, guys! 

**Chapter Seven**

My head hurt. My ribs hurt. Well, pretty much everything in my body hurt. I sat up, startled by a sudden movement next to me.

_Iggy, _I thought, and relaxed. I was in this little white room. You know those little walk-in pantries? It was four times as big as one of those. Not very big. I could stand up and walk, yeah. But only for two big steps. Then I'd hit a wall.

_Max? _a little girl's voice asked curiously. I felt a flood of relief.

_Angel? _I replied. _Where are you? _She wasn't here. Maybe she was somewhere else. It hit me then, where we were. The School. Again.

_I don't know. We're in little crates. Small. And there's a window looking out to the courtyard area? The Erasers are out there, helping with something. It keeps exploding. Chemicals, maybe? Where are you? And where's Iggy? Are you okay?_

_We're both here, _I told her. _I just woke up. Iggy's with me. We're in a small-ish white room. We're okay, I guess. Iggy's still asleep, though. I think. Can you hear him at all?_

Silence.

_Angel? _I asked cautiously.

_I can hear him, _she told me slowly, _but he's not conscious. I don't know. Maybe he's dreaming? But he's dreaming about—_

She cut off.

_He's dreaming about what? _I wondered to just myself. The School? The flock? Being captured by Erasers?

_You, Max, _Angel told me quietly. _He's dreaming about you. He likes you, you know. Like you-know-who-did?_

I immediately shut down. Iggy liked me? Why? How? What had I done? _He _had liked me because, well, I'd made out with him a couple of times. But it had turned out he hadn't really liked me anyway. No way was I getting in over my head again. No way, no how. God. Maybe Angel was just making this up. Yeah, that was it. Iggy didn't really like me. He couldn't like me.

_He _does _like you, _Angel confirmed. _And he's going to wake up in like five seconds._

Amazingly, Angel was right. Iggy stirred and then awoke. He rubbed at his wrists, rubbed raw probably by his struggle to free himself from the duct tape that was no longer there. He sat up and leaned against the wall. I crawled over to him.

_He's okay, _Angel said in my head. _I think he's just tired, and his wrists hurt. And…he's wondering where the others are. Hang on._

Iggy jolted. His face softened slightly. I suspected Angel was telling him where they were and that I was right here. I hugged him awkwardly in the small space and then huddled up in a corner. It was amazing. I didn't much care anymore about _him _and how he had left me. Well, I did. But my tears for him had run out. Yet I still couldn't bring myself to let him go and to just…like somebody else. Trust someone else. Because he had always had my back, and now he didn't, and…well, I'm just being emotional again.

A door opened and an Eraser came in and quickly grabbed me, pulling me roughly to my feet. He swung me around and I careened into a dog crate, hitting my head on the back. It hurt really badly. But it brought me back to reality.

I said a few colorful words—well, more like _shouted _them—and pounded on the side of my crate. The Eraser looked in at me and smirked, showing yellow teeth. He shook the cage, making my already bruised head hit the hard plastic. I kicked at the bars at the front and retreated to the back of the rather large crate. Probably made for a Great Dane or a teeny pony.

_Max, are you okay? _Angel wondered.

_Yeah. Just a little banged up. Where are they taking us? What are they thinking? _I asked her, rubbing my head wound. My hair was way messed up, and my clothes were stained with blood. Nothing new.

_They're thinking about you guys. They want to know if you're together. I think… _she stopped. I could practically hear her inhale sharply, like someone does when you're thinking, _Oh, my God. No way. This cannot be happening._

_What? _I worried. _What are they thinking about?_

_Fang, _she said stiffly. I could hear her horror. _They're thinking about Fang. They have him, Max. They took him. They're bringing you to him._

**Note: **Huh? How do you like it? Be sure to comment, people! And relatively fast, 'cause I don't know how much longer I can wait to write a new chapter! Adviceadviceadvice!!! Smell ya later, guys! :P


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